Distinctions

Facebook Connect: Scary but good — One of the companies adopting Facebook's new log-in system, Facebook Connect, is CBS, parent company of CNET and publisher of Webware. I'm glad we're on board with this program, even if I do feel it's a bit of Faustian deal. Here's why. First of all, CNET's own log-in system (which you see when you want to leave a comment on a CNET blog post, write a user review, or participate in other CNET community features) is not universally loved inside CNET. There are factions here at the company who want it changed, or even eliminated in some cases. There... [Tags: cnet community, community features, distinctions, easy access, facebook]

Just Wow: YouTube Had 344M Global Uniques in Oct. — Not that you didn’t already know that YouTube commands an audience all over the world, but here are the numbers that prove it. ComScore hasn’t given out U.S. video measurements since July (the delay is apparently because it’s in the process of expanding its video measurement techniques so it can measure ads vs. content, premium vs. user-generated content, and other distinctions). But venture capitalist Fred Wilson (who until earlier this year sat on comScore’s board) was able to rustle up some October worldwide numbers to prove a point he was making in a blog post about YouTube’s audience compared to... [Tags: asia, caveats, distinctions, europe, fred wilson]

Sadness Is Healthy — Mind Hacks points me to this article on the "medicalization" of unhappiness:The blurring of the distinction between normal intense sadness and depressive disorder has arguably had some salutary effects. For example, it has reduced the stigma of depression and created a cultural climate that is more accepting of seeking treatment for mental illness. Many people with normal sadness might benefit from medication that ameliorates their symptoms. However, the usefulness of medication for normal sadness, and especially the trade-off between symptom reduction and adverse effects, has not been carefully studied—partly because the necessary distinctions do not exist within the current diagnostic... [Tags: adverse effects, antidepressants, depressive disorder, diagnostic system, distinction]

Ratchet & Clank headline another PSP-3000 bundle; you're simply thrilled — Look, we know how much you love Ratchet & Clank-oriented PSP SKUs, don't try and hide your desire. This latest PSP-3000 bundle to feature the respectively furry / mechanical duo includes a black PSP and Everyday Shooter in addition to Ratchet & Clank Size Matters, instead of the silver PSP and echochrome featured in that other bundle. These are all very important distinctions, we assure you. A 1GB Memory Stick Duo card and the ever-diserable National Treasure 2 are included as well. The new bundle hits on December 15 for the same old $199 pricetag. We're still waiting on... [Tags: 1gb memory stick, 1gb memory stick duo, amp, desire, distinctions]

Yahoo to make BrowserPlus open-source — It was probably inevitable given what Google did with Gears, but Yahoo said Tuesday it's releasing BrowserPlus software as open-source software. BrowserPlus and Gears are aimed at improving browsers' native abilities so Web applications can better match those running natively on a computer's operating system, and Gears already is open-source software. Yahoo announced its intent to make BrowserPlus open-source software on its Yahoo Developers Blog on Tuesday. "Openness is a key initiative and a major theme for Yahoo this year and beyond, and open-sourcing BrowserPlus is part of that commitment," said team member Lloyd Hilaiel. "This will allow developers... [Tags: capture technology, community contributions, distinctions, drag and drop, feature ideas]

What Women Should Know About Men's Brains — As more and more research reveals the differences in the male and female brains, it becomes easier for each gender to better understand the other and to allow the differences to unite rather than separate us.After many carefully controlled studies, scientists have discovered actual physical differences between the brains of males and females. Men and women tend to maintain these unique brain characteristics throughout their lives.For example, men’s brains are about 10% larger than female brains. Larger doesn't necessarily mean smarter, although men like to think this is so. Now women can understand why men let compliments "go to their... [Tags: airplane pilots, areas of the brain, distinctions, intriguing facts, language processing]

The Future Gives Some People Hives [Quote Of The Day] — "There is a very small subset of the population who are incapable of reading or watching any story that does not take place in the present... But these people are a minority. I’ve come to view their condition as being akin to a food allergy. I will leave them alone and not bother them with my world anymore or chase after their respect or worry at their opinions. But for the majority of us, SF&F is so pervasive in all our media, not to mention in our vocabulary and our lives, that it is becoming silly to draw distinctions. We... [Tags: amp, distinctions, food allergy, jeff vandermeer, population]

Enterprise Microsharing: The Next Wave? — Everyone (at least, everyone in our corner of the world) knows about Twitter. But have you ever thought about the possibilities of setting up something Twitter-like on your own intranet? If so, you’re not alone. That’s one of the basic messages of a new comparison of enterprise microsharing tools from Pistachio Consulting. You may have heard about some of the Twitter alternatives like Identica and Yammer. But the Pistachio team has identified a solid 20 applications in this space already - and undoubtedly there are more lurking in the wings. With this overabundance, it’s useful to have some sort of... [Tags: case studies, comparison charts, decision makers, distinctions, identica]

The Republican Case For Marriage Equality — Tom Campbell, a Republican and former five-term U.S. Congressman, makes the case:Republicans believe deeply that government should be limited. Government has no business making distinctions between people based on their personal lives. That's why, as a Californian and a Republican who has held elective office at the federal and state levels, I will be voting No on Proposition 8. Same-sex couples already exist, so do different-sex couples. Californians in these relationships are our firefighters, nurses, police officers, and small business owners. They pay taxes and contribute to our economy and our society. Californians come in different shapes and sizes; that's... [Tags: californian, californians, congressman, different shapes, distinctions]

Mo' Marketing — Canadian Club Whisky is an iconic brand, the favorite of MAD MEN’s Don Draper, but perhaps best known to you through their brilliant “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It” ad campaign.  And damn right, they’re a SHIFT client. Our upcoming project for CC is in support of Movember.  “Mo” is slang for moustache, and Movember is a moustache-growing contest that takes place next month, to raise money and awareness for men’s health.   As part of the promotional efforts, SHIFT created a Movember Facebook application, with which you can graffiti your friends’ Profile pics with an assortment of moustaches...    Incredibly silly,... [Tags: ad campaign, application development projects, canadian club whisky, damn right, defaced]

Paul Abrams: Obama until November: Just Keep it Short, Simple and Sharpen Distinctions — We are down to the wire, and droves of people who, perhaps amazingly to those of us who have been embroiled in this for 2 years, are starting to pay attention to the candidates. For those people, and for those who may be at the end of their patience, for Obama to bring this home, he ought to keep it simple and make the distinctions sharp. Like this: 1. John McCain's tax cuts provide most of the money to the wealthy. Mine go to the middle class. 2. John McCain opposes equal pay for equal work for women. I'm for... [Tags: 1 john, american healthcare, department of education, distinction, distinctions]

My Own Worst Enemy Fails To Live Up to Admittedly Meager Expectations [Christian Slater Is Still Alive] — My favorite episode in the 10-year run of Alfred Hitchcock's famous anthology series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, is "The Case of Mr. Pelham." It concerns a man being stalked by a person who he believes to be his double. By turns frightening and utterly insane, the drama builds with just a few sets and actors. And that's what I was dreaming of as I viewed the new NBC Christian Slater vehicle, My Own Worst Enemy. Click on to explore Hitchcock's masterpiece and our review of tomorrow night's pilot. Slater's Henry-Edward combo may not be that far away from Robert Louis Stevenson's... [Tags: action elements, alfred hitchcock, alfred hitchcock presents, anthology series, case of dr jekyll and mr hyde]

Mufin launches new music discovery engine beta, Download Squad readers are invited — Filed under: Audio, Internet, Features, Web services, web 2.0 As a music lover, one of my favorite innovations of the last five years or so has come in the form of music discovery services. Services like Last.fm, Pandora, Rhapsody and iTunes 8 have made it easy to find artists or songs that are similar to your musical tastes and preferences. The only problem with these services, is that they are based on limited databases (like the iTunes Music Store, for iTunes's Genius Mode), reviews or ratings by other users and overall popularity. That means that the music discovered might indeed... [Tags: alogrithm, audio internet, audio recognition, discovery engine, discovery services]

Facebook Group And Brand Page Best Practices — Image via CrunchBase Facebook is an easy place to engage a group of people around your brand. The social tools, group functionality and free brand pages give companies, clubs and organizations an unprecedented level of access to a group of interested consumers. The easy advertising tools also allow businesses to promote themselves to the 100 million (or thereabouts) users on the social network, not to mention the social advertising that takes place when someone joins your group or becomes a fan. But as easy as companies, brands an organizations find the interface and as powerful as the feature set... [Tags: 100 million, ads group, advertising tools, apologies, best practices]

Google Knol Experiments With Audio — Google Knol, a fairly recent launch in a space populated by the likes of Wikipedia and Mahalo, received considerably bad press in the last several weeks. Farhad Manjoo of Slate and Harry McCracken of Technologizer are just two individuals who’ve torn into the service as of late. So you might not think it’s worth your while. And substantively, it may not be. But can Wikipedia speak to you? Knol can. Sometimes. If you browse Knol’s catalogue of user-submitted articles (a number of which duplicate content from Wikipedia, but that’s another item for another day), you will find that audio tracks... [Tags: abbreviations, acronyms, daily poll, distinctions, factual content]

I am a member of the NextNY mailing list which is a group of New York folks that talk about tech business and entrepreneurship. A recent conversation and actually a persistent theme in that group is that in a startup, an idea is worth %1 and execution is worth 99% or some other highly disproportionate ratio. I take issue with the concept. Here’s the problem with the formulation. It belies a misunderstanding of what an actionable “idea” really is. A good idea is almost never some light bulb moment that occurs where you realize some insight that no one... [Tags: actionable ideas, amazon, business ideas, distinctions, execution]

I am a member of the NextNY mailing list which is a group of New York folks that talk about tech business and entrepreneurship. A recent conversation and actually a persistent theme in that group is that in a startup, an idea is worth 1% and execution is worth 99% or some other highly disproportionate ratio.I take issue with the concept.Here’s the problem with the formulation. It belies a misunderstanding of what an actionable “idea” really is. A good idea is almost never some light bulb moment that occurs where you realize some insight that no one else has seen.... [Tags: actionable ideas, amazon, business ideas, distinctions, execution]

Video: What’s the difference between CIO and CTO? — When you talk about IT leadership career tracks, the question that almost always comes up is, “What’s the difference between the CIO and the CTO?” Though the two roles sound similar, there are some clear distinctions between them. This episode of Sanity Savers for IT Executives explains the differences in goals, mandates, and skill sets [...]... [Tags: cto, distinctions, leadership career, mandates, sanity savers]

Q&A with Graham Hopper, head of Disney’s game division, on going hardcore — The distinctions between hardcore games and casual games (the committed enthusiasts versus the broader market fans) are melting away. That’s evident in the strategy of Graham Hopper, president of Disney Interactive Studios. The company puts 70 percent of its investment into titles that support major Disney licenses, but the investment is growing so much that Disney is pouring a lot of money into original titles for hardcore gamers such as “Pure,” a critically-praised off-road ATV racing game that Disney just launched. In a fairly short time, Disney will be tripling the amount of money that it invests in video games.... [Tags: 100 million, amount of money, atv game, casual games, disney interactive]

Would you be excited to hear today about a service that will have its launch next year? That’s what publishing veteran Time Inc and archival giant Getty Images are promising. The two plan to launch what will be LIFE.com to house “the most comprehensive iconic and professional photography collections available anywhere online.” This will go for things historic and things current, things well-documented and things never-before-seen. The bulk of content will be available at launch, and “more than 3,000 new images will be uploaded daily from Getty Images.” The sheer volume of what will be presented through LIFE.com makes... [Tags: conveniences, corporate interest, distinctions, flickr, getty images]